Month: August 2013

Afternoon Delight: Frozen Crumbly Chocolaty Goodness

Mocha Cookie Crumble FrappaccinoFor my first entry in my Gratitude Journal, I want to expound on the joys of frozen mocha cookie crumbly goodness.  For the past couple of months (summertime), this scrumptious treat has been available from Starbucks ~ the Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappaccino.  I took the photo (to the right) yesterday afternoon after making a quick stop between the Country Club Plaza and Crown Center.

Yesterday wasn’t particularly hot, but for the third day in a row, I left work with a persistent headache, possibly related to job/project stress or the weather (low pressure system most of the week).  I don’t like to take any medications if I can avoid it, so when I do get a headache, I reach for chocolate or a caffeinated drink.  In this case, I doubled down with a frozen blended mocha cookie beverage.  My headache vanished before I made it halfway to the bottom.

Thus I’m very grateful for the ease with which my headache left and for the incredibly delicious way in which I encouraged its exile.  And also grateful that there are two Starbucks near where I work:  one within walking distance on the Plaza and one on Main Street that I pass twice daily.

No, I don’t give in to temptation and treat myself every day.  Just occasionally … once a month or every other week.  I tried to make up for the extra calories I ingested yesterday by walking Apollo last night.

Reversing My Poles

mid-July moss rose bloom sEach quarter, my employer features a health enhancement challenge that I routinely register for with the best intentions.  Our theme this time around, which is beyond ironic, happens to be stress management.  I laugh every time I log into the intranet log page where I record my goals for this challenge.  My entire department (the ever maligned Information Technology one) is under tremendous pressure right now as we proceed through a merger with another firm.  Since so much of today’s business is transacted using technology, you can imagine the challenges we must overcome to provide a seamless transition for our internal customers.  Hence, my chuckles each time I review the stress-relieving activities I’m supposed to complete each day (a minimum of ten from among these):

  • 7-8 hours of sleep (I’m lucky if I get six, and I usually wake up at least 2-3 times thinking about work projects)
  • Hobby (My favorite hobby is reading, and I do that while driving by listening to audiobooks; my other hobby, amateur astronomy, is frustrated this season with inconvenient cloud cover)
  • Eliminate caffeine (Only if I don’t get a headache while at work … then I reach for a mocha or some other form of chocolate).
  • Exercise (I try to walk the dog for 30 minutes in the evening, if it’s not raining or so muggy that you start sweating the minute you step out the door.  This combos up with more reading of audiobooks because my dog’s not a great conversationalist, except with other dogs)
  • Deep breathing (If you count hyperventilating over some missed deadline or hurdle on a project)
  • Meditate/Quiet Reflection (If you consider being hypnotized by the road during the commute home or the oblivion of dreamless sleep)
  • Unplug from technology (Seriously, you expect me to do that? Only when my battery dies, which won’t happen since I bought a backup battery with my new smartphone back in January)
  • Quality time with a loved one (Renovating our main bathroom with my hubby)
  • Gratitude Journal (I just learned about this today which prompted this blog post)

Thnx4-logo-smallI watched a short video on negative thoughts.  Apparently, on average, I have 60,000 thoughts each day when I’m conscious.  Of those, about 70% will turn up negative.  To counteract that trend, I’m going to try writing a gratitude journal for twenty minutes per day.  I’ve actually done something similar here at this log, back in November 2011, when I wrote a blog post every day on things I was thankful for.  For the purposes of this endeavor, though, I’m going to pretend that I’m starting from scratch.

Starting tomorrow, I will post my first gratitude journal entry here.  Perhaps I will be able to flip from negative to positive before the sun flips its magnetic field.  If it helps let off some stress steam that has built up in me over the last few months, then I’m ready to give it a try.